A Second Chance | ✓

𝟢𝟤 | 𝖸𝗈𝗎 𝖬𝗂𝗌𝗌 𝖧𝗂𝗆, 𝖣𝗈𝗇'𝗍 𝖸𝗈𝗎?

❝ 𝙰 𝚢𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝚌𝚑𝚊𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚜 𝚢𝚘𝚞 𝚊 𝚕𝚘𝚝 ❞

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"Alright boss, the water is at the perfect temperature so it's time for a bath." I turn off the faucet and turn around. I watch as Alessandra sticks her tongue out at herself in the mirror. "Alessandra."

"Ya voy!" Coming! She scrunches her nose and walks over to me. I carefully pull off the soft robe she has on and set it on the toilet seat before picking her up and setting her inside the tub filled with bubbles.

"Y también, será mejor que no vuelvas a usar el baño aquí." It'll be better if you don't use the bathroom in here. I tell her in which she responds by nodding her head as she grabs one of the bath toys I put inside. Last week when I offered to bathe her, this girl decided to pee in the tub as I was finishing up her bath.

So I had to rewash her again.

Serenity is currently taking a nap because said her head was hurting. So I offered to give my baby niece a bath before her bedtime, which is in two hours. I squirt soap on my palm and lather it off before I start to carefully scrub her scalp.

"Tia Odi!"

"Si?" Alessandra has a tough time trying to pronounce the 't' in my name so she opts for tia Odi. "Yo quiero jugar." I want to play.

"Abuela y abuelo están esperando en la sala para que termines para que puedan jugar contigo." Are waiting for you in the living room so they can play with you. I make sure to push the soap away from her eyes before I grab a small rag and add body wash. "Up." I hold Alessandra's hand to help her stand up so I can begin washing her body.

When I finish, she squats down and blows raspberries at me. "You did not just-" She blows raspberries at me again.

"Hehe . . . ya acabe?" Am I done?

"Ya casi." Almost. I say, holding her hands as she moves her little body from left to right. She calls this dancing and it's melted all of our hearts. I sit her down and carefully pour water over her head and make sure no water hits her face or goes down it. Alessandra makes whining noises while squeezing my arm as I continue to get the soap out of her hair. She absolutely hates this part.

After I do that, I clean off all the soap from her body before wrapping a towel around her, picking her up and taking her to her room. I lay her down on her bed as I look through the drawers to choose out what she'll wear to bed.

I picked out a pajama set that has little bear faces on it and it's a silk material. I swear we've all developed a bad habit of spoiling Alessandra.

I put a fresh diaper on her and begin applying lotion all over her body as she plays with her stuffed animal, Angel. I then put her pajamas on her along with a new pair of socks. The last thing I do is pat her hair and remove as much water as I can before I gently run a comb through her hair. "And you are all done." I say, kissing the top of her head.

"Yay! Gracias! Abuela, Abuelo!" She yells, scurrying out of the room. I begin putting everything away and as well make sure the bathtub is clean.

I go downstairs to fix myself something to keep my stomach full before I'm glued to my laptop and a file of papers for the next few hours. I hear Alessandra yell 'mama!' meaning Serenity has woken up from her nap. "How did you sleep, sleeping beauty?" I ask her as she takes a seat at the table, I join her afterwards.

Serenity looks back at Alessandra and our parents who are too busy playing. "I didn't sleep. I only cried."

"What? Why?"

"I started thinking about Elijah and all that stuff that happened in that single month and I just- I just lost it and I cried." She says, burying her face in her hands. "And I couldn't let Alessandra see me like that so I had to come up with something."

"You miss him, don't you?"

"I think about that asshole every day. I mean sure he broke my heart when he didn't mean to but- I can't just forget about him. He's the first man to ever let me feel what love is like because I never thought I would be able to have it." She looks down as she wipes her face.

Serenity and I stayed in the kitchen while talking about the most random shit. Our mama came into the kitchen holding a sleepy Alessandra.

Serenity took it as her queue and took Alessandra in her arms and upstairs. There have been days where she would lock herself in her room and she'll only let Alessandra in.

Those were the days when she would feel down because she remembered all the memories she and Elijah shared. I know it's even harder now because the day she'll be seeing and talking to him again after all this time is quickly approaching.

She's nervous as the days go by and to be honest, I would be too after not seeing or speaking to the man I love after almost two years.

· • —– · • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • · —– • ·

I managed to squeeze and write a chapter tonight which is partly the reason why it's short. The reunion between Serenity and Elijah is happening soon which means it's not long until Alessandra and Elijah meet.

Also, I've put out a new book, Celestial Blessings, which is about Celestina & Valentino. My goal is to hopefully finish this book along with that one around the same time.

— cristal g.